Everyone's Favorite - MOWRY!

Ziggy is keeping me company in the office.

But today's subject is Mowry. Today is Mowry's birthday! He's THREE, which I figured out from paperwork we got when we adopted him. Not "papers" but paperwork documenting shots and things. I backtracked from an entry when he was 6 weeks old and it took me to April 30th.

(Stupid Blogspot won't keep the paragraphs I put in to separate some of this typing to make it easier to read).

Mowry was born on a boat and the boat owner did not want kittens on his boat, even though his wife apparently agreed to foster them until they were adoptable. Luckily, they got into the hands of Liz at Furry Friends Rescue who actually got in trouble for accepting them. Even in volunteer agenies there is politics, but I digress. That was the 'mug shot' of Mowry posted by Furry Friends Rescue back in 2006 for "Meow Mix", the name Liz gave to this cute orange ball of fur.

And today Mowry is king of the house, or so he thinks.I love the tongue!He's trying to get some rest on his birthday, but someone keeps trying to get a good birthday picture, which I still haven't gotten!
I need a wrap for the dress I'm wearing to my cousin's wedding this weekend. I started to knit a shawl wrap thing and decided I didn't like it, so I ripped it out when it was about 10 inches long. Then I started another, and found a really cute shawl pattern, so I started to rip this and realized I should start the other and NOT rip this in case I don't like the shawl, which of course happened. My yarn isn't right for the shawl. So I'm picking up where I left off after ripping a few inches. GROWL. This picture does it no justice - it's nice in person. I need to get moving since the wedding is in a few days!

Knit Knit Knit.

What a difference a day makes....

Or in this case, a week. Last Monday it was in the 90s and HOT, and today you can see the gray clouds behind the trees across the street. I don't even think the temps hit 60 today. I wore a coat and was happy I did that at the last minute before I walked out the door. I cropped out the houses, so this looks especially pretty!




This is a knitting blog, a cat blog, and an anything blog. Here is the blue, purple and white sock I'm working on with the Sockotta yarn from Stitches.and closer. The shape is funky, but I haven't worn it yet. I tried it on and it fits fine.

Ziggy is keeping me company with one eye open from the cat window perch that is right next to where I sit in our office at home.

Yesterday the weather was perfect, so we took a walk into town. The new fire station is coming along. This is from the back looking toward Niles Boulevard.

This is how it looked in September last year.

Our walks always have beauty and ugly, but mostly beauty. These lovely roses are in front of a house in the neighborhood.

This fence with roses and irises is the elementary school. I don't remember my elementary school being so pretty. There are even raised beds that look like they may have once been used for a vegetable garden.The taco truck is busy, the hills are turning brown, and an Amtrak is crusing thru.

And then you have the weeds growing thru the cracks in the sidewalk, but next to beautiful old tile.

And the really ugly weeds in the cracks in the sidewalk, along with litter and cigarette butts. Doesn't anyone pick up their trash? This tile tells us that Historic Niles was established in 1869.

And this one is for the Essanay Studios in 1912. Niles might have been Hollywood had the movie business not moved south. Charlie Chaplin made several movies in our town back then.

I, for one, am glad our town is what it is and isn't Hollywood!

Saturday Pictures

It's hard to get good pictures of cats, especially seasoned cats, such as ours, who see the camera and hide their faces. OK, so maybe the flash is annoying, but look how cute they are! This was Alex's favorite spot in the office until he discovered the Crow's Nest in the TV room.

Look closely at Al's face above. Below is Ziggy, who is now on the cat perch.Ziggy's dominant white "eyebrow" whisker is on his right, whereas Alex's white whisker is on his left. They both have the white chin and white long whiskers and green eyes. Ziggy's face is a little "pushed in" as though he may have some Persian in his gene pool.A few minutes before Ziggy decided to crawl up onto the cat perch, he had been sleeping rather precariously on top of the cat bed mats on top of the scanner.Mowry knew just where to hide - under the chair - to avoid getting his dose of Advantage for fleas. It's a small chair, so I was able to dig under and get him out, much to his chagrin.

I found this cute shrug to go with this dress. It's not the exact color, of course, but I can't decide if it will work. Will says yes, but I'm thinking no. Too bad because I really like it. I found it at Marshall's, somewhere I used to frequent, but have not found much of anything worthwhile at since they opened in Fremont.

In the yard, the plant from my client is doing well - it's flowering!

The apple tree is getting leaves, there are two dead yellowjackets in the trap, and the roses are blooming. It's all good!

I never really liked the way the sheers looked in the TV room. Mostly I didn't like the swag on the top that was hiding the curtain rod. I had to use tape to hold the swag in place, and as you can see, it often showed.

A neighbor with a 10 foot window was giving away a curtain rod, so I claimed it because it's hard to find rods that long unless I want to pay premium price and special order. We took down the sheers.....and hung the new rod, but unfortunately it was about six inches too short. The house it came from is the other model around here, so I guess they don't actually have a 10 foot window.

Will got smart and bought a dowel and painted it and improvised. It's too bright to take a picture of the whole window, but you can still see the old rods holding the sheers and the new rod. I'm not crazy about the old hook holding the rod that his holding the sheers, but I can either replace the hardware, or paint it so it doesn't show as much. The curtains won't get closed, but I like how they finish the look.

Alex likes them, too!We have more errands to run, but we're being a little lazy hanging out in the office on our computers - me updating the blog and Will surfing the internet. Garage and estate sales were not good today. What a disappointment. I suspect someday soon we'll look back nostalgically and say "remember when we used to go to garage sales and find great stuff before everyone else started going?" But I'm hoping not, so I keep going!

I'm liking this yarn I bought from Stitches - it's Sockotta and the colors are mine!

We have so many leaves in our backyard. The front is beautiful. The lavender is blooming in our front, and the roses across the street are in bloom for a gorgeous view!

Out of our office window, it's a little blurred, but let's call it my artistic view. Roses across the street, a purple potato plant next door to that, and our pink flowers in the foreground. It's trash day, so you can even see the blue trash bin. You get it all!

The picture is not as pretty as the in-person view, but several roses are blooming at once on the rose bush next to the driveway.

The wasps are still busy trying to build their nest. It's very interesting how it becomes this very intricate and perfectly shaped nest. They will be gone soon. It's a little blurry but you get the picture! We called our friends at Clarke Pest Control, the same people who took care of our mouse. Or did they? The mouse was never caught, but he's gone.

Out back the tomatoes from the Pleasanton Farmers' Market are growing. The rose is growing in the ground behind it.

Here are the roses.

The lime tree is still trying. I put some mulch around it and there are blossoms. Sadly, the camelia tree we dragged down the street last year from a neighbor's is dying. It even had buds on it. Anyone with a green thumb out there with suggestions? Or is it too late?

The herb garden looks pretty good. Mint is supposed to grow like a weed, but not in my yards (here or at the townhouse). The tomato plant is growing.

The sky is overcast today and it's only 59 degrees! A far cry from the heat wave we had erlier in the week, but that's fine with me. I reiterate that my perfect weather 24/7 is 72 degrees!

Random Pictures on Weds.

Today is Jack Nicholson's birthday, Janet Evanovich's birthday, and my birthday!

It's finally cooling down after two days in the 90s. Will's sister was visiting from Washington State and she was one of the few who enjoyed the hot weather. We appreciate the sun, but the heat was just too hot!

Can you see Ziggy's bow legs? Is he a lovebug, or what? I just want to hug him, and thankfully he's okay when adults hug him, he just doesn't like it when a two year old hugs him. Sorry, Xander.


We were working on the curtains in the TV room, so the TV was turned around and guess who found a cool spot on which to hide?In the spirit of not showing faces on my blog because it's all public information and I don't share, here is Will reading by the wonderful corner windows with Mowry on his lap being a sweetie. He does that only to Will! The sunset Tuesday night was magnificent. I thought it looked very pink, but Will thought it looked very orange.
I guess it was pink, orange and yellow depending on where you looked.Toward the hills it looked pink and cloudy! Note the apple tree leaves to the left. They almost look like a light is shining on them. It is coming back after the massive pruning a few months ago.BAD - notice the wasps building their nest just outside of our front door.


Happy Earth Day! We should always respect our earth and natural resources that are limited and not to be wasted. The first Earth Day was April 22, 1971!

Lavender on Sunday

After a week of winds (read: chilly mornings and lots of leaves out back to rake up), it was 78 yesterday and will be 83 (or higher) today.

The tomatoes I bought at the Pleasanton Farmers' Market are growing.

As are the ones I bought at the grocery store, but not as fast. The sage in the back was given to me by my neighbor and has finally flowered and appears to be happy. Will bought me the garden spike that says "Sage" last year.

The lavender out back planted by the former owner has gone crazy growing again.

Up close...pictures do it no justice.

That inspired me to plant more lavender - by the brick wall, and by the statue.

And along the front of the house under our bedroom window. Last year it looked like this plant may not make it, but it's gorgeous this year!

I keep hearing about fewer bees but our lavender plants have many bees all the time.

We watched a recorded "Late Late Show" (who stays up until 12:35 am?)

and I knitted while I watched. This is the blue Sockotta yarn from Stitches West 2009. I love these colors. Of course, you say, they are "Joan colors".

I'm not as crazy about these colors, but they'll work with brown pants and a yellow shirt or a peach shirt or a pink shirt.